Friday, December 31, 2010

Have you ever heard of Farkle? Mom said she bought the game as a family gift years ago and decided to pack it for our first family ski trip. The three boys played this game over and over again while I took score in EXCEL on my computer. It was hilarious to hear them play mind games with each other. The premise of the game is you roll 6 dice and hope to get a 5, a 1, 3 of a kind, 3 pairs, 2 trios, 4 of a kind, 5 of a kind, or 6 of a kind. Each combination is a different amounts of points and the first person to 10,000 points wins.

Michael and Matthew were getting into it!

Matthew kept losing but finally he won and did a celebratory dance.

This video makes me laugh so hard I could wet my pants. Watch my brother Matthew’s (the one in the middle) dance moves and his face. The second round is the best ! HAHA!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

We had the best laugh on Sunday! I still chuckle thinking about the the day. Adam and I borrowed a lot of ski stuff from friends and family. We were so grateful to not have to go out and purchase a whole bunch of stuff. Well I ended up using my mom’s snow boots because they had a rubber bottom. I had high hopes of building a snowman and a making snow angels. That was until I put them on Sunday morning as we headed out to the slopes. There was a huge slice in the left boot. I freaked thinking oh my…did I do this.

I showed mom the shoes and she was shocked that this was happening. We figured the shoes must have dry rotted in the attic since the last time they were used. By the time we got in the car the right shoe had begun to fall apart.

After about 10 minutes in the car and us laughing about the shoes. I lifted my left foot up and the bottom of the shoe stayed on the ground.

When we got home there was a trail of rotted rubber all through the condo. If you followed it….it would lead you to….

Monday, December 27, 2010

The weekend before Christmas we loaded up the Suburban and headed up to Georgia to celebrate Christmas with Adam’s mom. We have lunch on Saturday and spend the afternoon opening presents while visiting with family. The morning was filled with cooking and watching ELMO as people came into town.

Aunt Nen and Annabelle watching “The Street We Live On.” Some how her bow got into my hair that morning :)

Cousins catching up on some Sesame Street.

People started getting there to total 32 people in all. It was CRAZY!

Santa even made an entrance before presents! Ha!

~2nd Christmas/Our Christmas~

On the eve of Christmas eve Adam and I did our Christmas since we would be flying out Christmas morning. We put on pj’s, turned on all the Christmas lights, and had my new GLEE Christmas album playing (thank you Annie). We then let Sadie (who is not allowed in the living room) and Lily come into the living room to “open” their presents first.

They get so stink’n excited!

Treats for both of them :)

Two new toys each!

Then we opened up our presents. That why it looked like Christmas threw up.

This is ME super excited for my new little camera. It is waterproof, freeze proof, and crush proof Perfect for our ski trip.

My hunny excited about his big present!

Sadie knowing her time in the living room is almost over! Sweet girl looking pretty by the tree!

~3rd Christmas~

On Christmas Eve we celebrated with Adam’s Dad and family. We ate an early dinner of steaks,mashed potatoes, green beans, sautéed mushrooms, Sister Shubert's and PEANUT BUTTER PIE! It was delicious! After dinner we exchanged gifts with everyone. I just love watching people open their presents and light up with excitement over what they just received.

After gifts we cleaned up to get ready for the Christmas eve service at church. We all sat on the same row (can’t remember the last time that happened) and prayed and worshiped together. I loved every minute of the service. God did such an unselfish act by giving us his son on that quiet December night so many years ago. After the service we said our good byes and wished all a Merry Christmas as we prepared for our 3rd Christmas.

~4th Christmas~

We got down to Tampa after 9 on Christmas eve and celebrated our final Christmas. We had a good time opening presents together with our colorful banter. I was so excited to get a new sifter from my brothers and William Sonoma’s peppermint bark…yum!

The tree with all the present has to be one of my favorite pictures at Christmas. Everything looks so pretty!

Mom got some great presents this year. Annie helped me out getting my dad’s present together for mom…check out there sweet “bods.”

Everyone had great Christmases! Hope all of you enjoy your time with your family’s.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Decorating for Christmas gets me all giddy. I think of it as my way to prepare my house for the preparation of Jesus' birth. I love that it looks different and the decorations are a constant reminder of what we are preparing for. The first thing I put up each year is the nativity scene my parents got us our first Christmas. I love it and would leave it out all year if Adam would let me.

When Adam and I got married we had different ideas for where our tree would go so we have two trees. We get a real tree for in the living room and we bought an artificial tree for in the foyer. Adam loves to see a tree when you pull up the drive way so we have the artificial one up front for that. I just can’t imagine us opening presents with our children on the hard word floor in the foyer. So here are our two Christmas trees. Can you see our furry friend who made into both pictures? HA!

Here are another few areas in the house I decorated.

Our living room

Our dinning room

The kitchen/foyer/breakfast nook

I am on break from school and have been baking cookies and pumpkin bread for family and friends, but yesterday afternoon I got a little stir crazy. I went on the hunt looking for a project to do other than baking. I found a spool of ribbon I bought last year on sale and began walking around the house try to find a use for it when it hit me. We have all these fabulous Christmas cards that sit in a basket by our phone and I hate I can’t display them. Well I came up with this and I have enjoyed it today. Every time you walk into the kitchen you see all these smiling faces. All you need it two contrasting ribbons and a single whole punch.

Now onto the outside which is all Adam. He has created the masterpiece of the outside. I do the porch decorations and wrap the column while Adam is hard at work on the roof and ladder.

Now we are ready for Christmas eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus and for Santa to land on our roof! We have been good this year Santa leave presents under either tree!

Merry Christmas! Praises for God who gave us the greatest gift of all His son!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Well every year we help out at our churches Vacation Bible School. VBS is always amazing and that started people talking about the Christmas program. Annie my SIL was asked to put on the children’s Christmas program and asked me to help. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. It was A LOT of work, but as of last Wednesday it is over and it turned out fantastic! Each Wednesday since October we have worked with the CHERUB choir (3 yrs-Kindergarten) and the JOY choir (first-fifth grade) to learn all the songs.

The program had such a wonderful message and the children really understood why it is important to be compassionate to others and why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The main character Jackson was visiting his grandmother and the were attending her churches annual caroling outreach. It was there that Jackson was introduced to a few children his age that showed him THE HO 2000 TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT MODULATOR, a time machine. The children traveled through the decades (70s, 80s,50s,90s, 40s, and then to the birth of Jesus in the manger). Jackson changed the future by giving a young boy in the 40s his allowance who needed it more than him. It so change that little boys life that he was the pastor of the church at the final scene when the time machine brought the children back to the present. The perfect message to be sharing at Christmas when giving can change the outcome of a families life.

Here in the sanctuary is the HO 2000 TEMPORAL DISPLACEMENT MODULATOR!

The Caroling Outreach sign Annie change when they traveled to each decade.

Some of the JOY carolers getting excited about the performance. The carolers sat in the choir loft and sang the carols as the main characters traveled through time.

The CHERUB girls enjoying their sweet poodle skirts the mamas made for them when they sang the 50s song Ring Ring A Ling!

A Doo Op Girl and a Greaser Boy!

The CHERUB girls not sure where the boys were.

The JOY Choir read to go up to the church!

Of course I have no photos from the program when you are trying to get the children to sing and say their parts at the right time, but after an hour of sweating and stressing the children did a phenomenal job and the audience loved every minute of it. The audience laughed, cried and ewed and awed. A success in my book!

Annie and I are overjoyed that the program went so well and that it is over because we want nothing more than to be home with our families during this Christmas season.

About Me

I am a big city girl, living in a small town, and loving every minute of it. I am a believer in Christ, a wife to an amazing man, and a teacher to 20 little munchkins, and I love the craziness it adds to my life. I could not handle this life without the strong hold of our Lord or the support of my husband. Enjoying the path He has planned for us!